Computer Guru's, Does my external Hard Drive go to sleep if its still blinking?

Ozzy, you're imagining a problem where one doesn't exist.  You've backed up your data and you've backed up your backup, so stop worrying about whether the light is on.  If the light really bothers you -- put some dark tape over it.

onhwy61,
It’s not the light, its whether or not it shortens the hard drive lifespan.
The hard drive costs close to $200. And, though I have other back ups, if one of them needs to be put into action, I would need to buy another HD and copy the files for back up duty. (which takes quite some time). After all I have 4TB+ of HR music on a 8TB HD.

ozzy

Whether it runs 24/7/365 or you turn it on and off daily won't make a statistical difference regarding hard drive failure.  Hard drives are robust, but they will eventually fail.  There's a plethora of software that diagnoses and monitors your hard drive's health.  Every now and then run a test on your hard drive.  It may actually prevent or at least warn you of problems.  As long as you have have multiple backups you should be okay.  BTW, it takes less than a day to transfer 4Tb from drive to drive.  Good luck.

onhwy61,
Thanks for your information.

ozzy

The rule with back up was... Back up as often as your NOT willing to lose data. You have two current backups, and a working copy? I'd say if you add a new 100.00 backup every two years.  You'd be only two years at the oldest. Maybe close to 1/3 life of the drive spec. That is pretty bullet proof, if you need ALL the data. 4T of music files, Thats a lot of music..

If the grid went down, could you still play the music?  I've got a working Victrola and plenty of 78s.  What do you think? Say a nasty Solar Flare.   Could you still play music? All the digital stuff gets smoked.

WE'RE civilized man, we have music... WE WILL SURVIVE..

Just no, Yoko Ono.  ;-)

Regards